NO GREAT CHANGE

Southland Times, Issue 25545, 13 December 1944, Page 5

NO GREAT CHANGE

SITUATION IN ATHENS R.A.F. BOMBERS IN ACTION (Rec. 11.30 p.m.) LONDON, December 12. Some progress was made in Piraeus, but generally the situation in Athens is unchanged, says Lieutenant-General R. M. Scobie’s latest communique. Further rebel forces are infiltrating into those parts of Athens and the suburbs which our troops have not yet been able to reach. R.A.F. bombers dispersed a rebel concentration forming up for an attack east of Athens, inflicting casualties. A British patrol, moving south from Volo, was ambushed by rebels and suffered casualties. It is understood that Mr Harold Macmillan, who is Resident Minister at Allied headquarters in the Central Mediterranean, and who is returning to Rome from London, will go straight on to Greece without delay, says the diplomatic correspondent of The Times. He adds that Mr Macmillan will seek to end the tragic fighting and help so far as he can in bringing all parties into a Government which can administer the country until the elections can be held. NEGOTIATING ABILITY Other Ministers had to be considered, but Mr Macmillan, who has proved his negotiating ability in many tangled affairs in Algiers and Rome, was picked. The Times also suggests that he will either find Field-Marshal Sir Harold Alexander, who is Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, in Athens or will meet him there shortly. The Times also says the British Government and M. Georges Papandreou are convinced that the extremist, leaders of ELAS hid their tactics in working for a coup from their followers, very many of whom are young, idealistic, and passionately democratic.

Outside Athens many ELAS groups have been shocked by the fighting, and even within the ring of leaders there seem divisions of opinion. Greek Government officials in London say M. Papandreou is still anxious to pursue a policy of reconciliation once order has been restored.